


who we'll be

by ayebydan



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 10:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11757612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayebydan/pseuds/ayebydan
Summary: After both Chris and Piper come to terms with her pregnancy a careful Chris opens up a little about the future.





	who we'll be

The baby whines and then launches a small car towards Chris who is standing by the Book of Shadows. Given how he has learned to react to anything and everything the young man is aware of it just as after it leaves Wyatt's hand and watches it tumble across the wooden floorboards with a quirked eyebrow. 

"Always been a little shit, huh?"

Wide blue eyes stare back at him but Chris only laughs softly and uses his own power to lift the car back towards Wyatt, tumbling across the air to the young boy's glee until it can be snatched out of the air. They both laugh once it is back in pudgy hands. It takes Chris a moment to realise there is another laughter in the air too.

Turning he finds his mother in the doorway. His cheeks redden and his gaze returns to the book. She only left to get them both tea as they researched. It is still hard to be around her but it is getting better. 

"You are lucky he is not talking yet or you'd be in trouble, mister." Piper murmurs as she crosses the room and presses a warm cup into his hand before moving to the couch and settling herself down and placing her palm over the side of her growing belly. Chris stares for a moment too long and then snaps out of it. 

"I'm always in trouble. Me and...I...we..."

"Typical brothers then? You had that for a while?"

He's glad she understands everything he can't and won't say. Too painful. Too dangerous. Images flash across his memory. Laughter. Fun. Reasons for trying this madness. 

"Yeah. We were terrible. Too hyper I guess. Aunt..." He pauses and clutches the mug but hears his mom shift on the couch. _He wants coffee but is being supportive to his own damn growth which is still weird._ She has not moved too much but he understands that she is simply trying to say she's giving him time and she's listening and anything he can give matters. "Aunt Phoebe loved winding us up I guess. Aunt Paige took us places and did things but ...Aunt Phoebe got us hyper. We were not bad kids though. Not...not until..I.."

"It's ok. I'm glad Paige took you cool places. I can imagine that. Geeky places huh? She was talking about some observatory the other day. She tries to hide that part of her but she's a nerd. And trust Pheebs to wind you up." His mom chirps happily. He knows she isn't happy though. She is imagining things he never wanted her to know about. Things he wanted to conceal. If he had had his way the 'evil' he came to stop would have been abstract and painless. All the names and hurt and abuse he took from his family would have sat on his shoulders to be carried happily as long as she _never_ knew about any of it but...that was not to be. 

If he can offer anything safe from his childhood. Anything to make things better. Well, that is something at least. He looks at his brother for a second and then slowly closes the book and moves to join his mother on the couch. Maybe he can take a break. Just for the tea. 

"They keep asking me who my favourite is."

"Oh?" Piper laughs, all teeth and dimples that makes Chris respond in kind. "And who is? Do you tell them the truth?"

He thinks for a moment or two and decides to give her something. "It is Aunt Prue. By the time I am old enough to do it we are allowed to summon her. We have the same powers or...I have the powers she was meant to grow into. I relate to her a lot. She taught me so much. Even after...I mean...before I came here. But I'm most like Aunt Paige. Which means sometimes I find Aunt Phoebe more fun?"

His mom immediately brings her cup to her lips and takes a deep sip, licks her lip and stares at him for a few moments. There is sorrow in her eyes but then her hand reaches out and grabs his. The edge of the sleeves from the hoody she is wearing brush his wrist and he curls into her side a little.. 

"I am _so_ glad to hear we get to see her, but more I'm happy she could support you. I can imagine her helping. Helping you become a leader. Cause that is what you did isn't it? You led a force against...against y-your-"

"Against Wyatt. You can say it, mom." He states firmly, because it isn't exactly easy for _him_ to admit to either.

Her head drops and she nods and then it lifts a little and he knows she is staring at the toddler playing in the crib opposite them. So innocent and pure. He never wanted her to know the in-depth but yet now it seems it would be better that she heard at least some of it. Enough to understand the magnitude of it all. Plus there is some part of him that wants to justify his own actions. 

"They called us the _Resistance_. We started as witches and whitelighters. But we became so much more. Mortals. Demons even. Wyatt's regime was absolute and power meant position. Everyone fought it for their own reasons. It is the reason I know so much of the underworld. Wyatt took magic public. The underworld became a transport network of supplies and information. Half the time our best weapons were mortal techs. That is how I met...well...it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters. You loved her, son. You...gave her a ring right? You wanted to marry her?" And that is the point where Chris nearly cries but it is just his _mom_ to take and accept everything his brother has destroyed and then try to help the son in front of her. 

"If I succeed I will never know her. Her family is not evil but she's...older. It doesn't matter."

His mom's shoulder nudges his and he smiles. "Yeah I saw that. Tell you what though, if you come round the house in a couple of decades with an older woman I'll try not judge ok?"

"Would be a bit hypocritical." He states flatly which makes her laugh freely, falling back on the cushions and holding her stomach. It is nice to see this part of her. It is even better to be the reason for it. 

Before either of them are finished laughing Wyatt orbs to the couch and settles between them both. Piper stills and glances up at him in fear. "Is this ok? Do you...I mean, do you-"

"I could never hate my brother. I'm a Halliwell, mom. Family first. I would never have come this far if I hated him." And to prove he means it he accepts the car that Wyatt is rattling in his face and hovers it above him, starts it spinning in circles again to the toddler's delight. 

"So if...if you had, I mean-"

"It is what they wanted me to do." Chris states calmly. " I refused. If that is how they want to end it then they can do it under a different leader." 

Tears fill his mom's eyes and she settles the cup on the floor before snatching his and putting it down beside it and throwing her arms around the two boys, her boys, belly pressing around them all. 

"I thought I had failed as a mom. Now I see I did perfectly."

Chris lets his tears fall into the wool of her jumper and grips tightly at them both.


End file.
